HURTIN' UNITS HAUNTED BY BANSHEES COMEBACK WIN...

"Man that ball got outta here in a hurry, you know anything that travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?"- Crash Davis

 HURTIN' UNITS vs. THE BANSHEES

Game # 5- May 30, 2011


Hurtin' Units lose 16-15


Team Record -4-1-0


Keogh Park-Well we've gone from rain, rain and more rain to extreme heat and humidity. At 7:30pm on Monday evening the temperature was 25 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 32 degrees. Perhaps, it's time to pull the cover off the air conditioning unit, get ur going...


The heat didn't let up at all by game time and we also had all kinds of bugs buzzin' around us, mostly mosquitoes and at one time in the evening one flew down my throat, yuck!!

At game time we had 11 players, the only player missing was Paul E. We were the visiting team in this game.

The Tale of Two Games...

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games...It seemed, from the beginning, that this game was going to be a close affair. In the early innings the Hurtin' Units defense was spectacular, allowing zero runs over the first 3 innings, but our offense could only muster up 4 runs and the score after 3 innings of play was 4-0 for the Units...

In the top of the forth inning, the Hurtin' Units tacked on another run and in the bottom of the inning the Banshees finally got their first run of the game... The Banshee's enthuisasm, for finally getting on the scoreboard, was short lived and in the top of the fifth inning, the Unit's bats came alive and put up 7 more runs on the scoreboard...But, just when we thought this game was becoming a runaway, the Banshees countered with 5 runs in the bottom on the inning, 12-6 Units after 5 innings...

In the top of the sixth inning the Units scored 2 more runs and shut down the Banshees... In in the top of the seventh the Units scored 1 more run making the score 15-6 for the Hurtin' Units going into the bottom of the seventh...



 Some people would say the wheels fell off the Hurtin' Unit wagon, but I would disagree... The Banshees came out and hit the ball to almost every location that there were no Unit players or any chance of players getting to the ball. There were no blatant errors or mistakes by the Units, just some really good hitting by the Banshees...The Banshees brought 13 batters up in the inning and 10 of them came around to score and when the winning run came home, there were still 2 runners on base... Talk about an extordinary inning...Again, it wasn't errors, it was just good, ole fashion hit the ball where they ain't baseball... I remember standing on the field, when this rally had started to unfold, saying to myself “ just hit it to one of our players, we'll make the plays”, it just didn't happen...Make the final... 16-15 Banshees...

The Banshees are a scary team, not because their name implies such, but because they have a solid defense, speed on the bases (as Anicete displayed, as leadoff, in the bottom of the seventh inning), and a strong, hard hitting batting lineup. It was disappointing to lose this game, after building such a huge lead, most teams going into the bottom of the seventh inning with a 9 run lead would be quite confident they would come out with a win...

It is a far, far better thing to lose to the Banshees, captained by Frank and John, than to lose aganist some other teams in the league...We'll get them next time!



Boxscore:         1    2    3     4     5     6      7       Total

Hurtin' Units     1    1    2     1     7     2     1          15 

Banshees          0    0    0     1     5     0     10        16 


Highlights: ( there are always highlights in a game like this).

Despite losing this game, I thought we played quite well. Bob M. was like a human vacuum at short and in one inning it was the Bob and Mike Show with all 3 outs, all from short to first, nobody else was even needed on the field... There were 2 double plays on our side. (1) A ball hit to Bob M. at stop, relayed to Kevin at second for a force and to Myself at first to get the batter. (2) A hard hit line drive to Chris L. caught at third with the bases loaded, Chris touched the third base bag that the runner had left anticipating a hit... Our outfielders made some nice catches... Cal R., Cal S., and Chris L. all went 4 for 4 batting on the night...We scored at least 1 run in every inning of this game...

There are 2 other people I would like to mention before I sign off this page of the blog: First is Chris Nyers- if this name doesn't ring a bell, Chris was the umpire for this game. I mention Chris because he played for the Hurtin' Units last season, a great player and teammate, but because of ongoing back problems he decided not to play again this season and took a role as an umpire. This is Chris' first season umpiring, I have seen him in umpiring action 3 or 4 times and I think he is doing a great job. I think that umpires and referees have a difficult job and deserve the a ton of credit for devoting their time and energy to our league... Thanks Chris.

The second person, I would like to thank is Bev S., for scorekeeping our games...Bev has been our scorekeeper in most, if not all, of the Hurtin' Unit games and when she scorekeeps the scoresheet is professionally done, I mean it's perfect. I can look at the scoresheet and tell what every player did on the night...This is incredibly handy when I do this blog and it makes the stats guy's life easy also... Thanks Bev.

Our next game is June 1st at Keogh Park at 7:00pm.

HURTIN' UNITS WIN A NAILBITER...

HURTIN' UNITS vs. TORN LIGAMENTS...

Game # 4  May 24, 2011

Hurtin Units Win 11-10

Team Record- 4-0-0

Coventry Park- The weather seems to be the topic of discussion this spring and if we continue to get more wet weather, we are probably going to set a record for the most rainfall in the month of May. I was working around the yard last weekend and the plant growth this spring is amazing, the grass now needs cutting every week (for me this is a lot), the Dandelions are taking over the world (there's probably a future Stephen King novel in the last statement) and all this damp weather has created breeding grounds for mosquitos anywhere water can pool...

I think, with all the rainy weather in the month of May, the Hurtin' Units have been quite fortunate to have played all of our games, sure the first one was canceled, due to poor field conditions, but the three nights we did play, there was no rain... Sooner or later (hopefully sooner) the unsettled weather has to stablize and dry warm days have to follow...The past long weekend was overall pretty good, with the exception of some late thunderstorms on Monday... 

Not an actual Torn Ligament Player.

 In this game, the Units were up against our last year's nemesis. The Torn Ligaments were the only team that the 2010 Hurtin' Units did not win against, at least once, in the 2010 season. On May 18, 2010, the second game of the season, the Torn Ligaments handed the Units a 7-5 loss and on August 4, 2010 the Torn Ligaments and the Hurtin' Units battled to a 7-7 tie. This season the teams are different, but the Torn Ligaments still have lots of secret weapons, to battle the Units...

The weather for game day on Tuesday was overcast for most of the day, but around 6pm the sun started to take  charge it was looking good for our game, but then the clouds took over again and by game time it was overcast again...I guess it beats looking into a setting sun. ...The temperature at 6pm was 13 degrees, I thought it might be time to dust off my batting gloves, after the vibes we were feeling in our bats, in the cool temperatures, in last week's game...

For the first time this season we were not the home team. At game time we had all 12 of the Hurtin' Unit players and all, except for Brad, dawned the Royal Blue shirt with yellow lettering and our new logo...

As I had mentioned earlier, the Torn Ligaments are our nemesis and they certainly showed it again on Tuesday evening. The Hurtin' Units came out swinging aggressively in the first three innings, scoring 4 runs in the first, 1 in the second and 2 more in the third against the pitching of Andy G., and the Unit defense held the Ligaments to 0 runs in their first two innings. In the bottom of the third inning, I came into pitch an inning, I threw some decent pitches, didn't walk anyone, but the Ligaments hit the ball through some gaps and over some heads and when the dust settled at the bottom of the inning, the Torn Ligaments had put up 3 runs to make the score 7-3 after 3 innings...

The Hurtin' Units managed to score 4 more runs in the fifth inning and the Ligaments countered with 5 in the bottom of the inning. Andy's pitching in combination with the cold evening air had us hitting a lot of ground balls for outs and the hits we did get didn't get us around to score. Neither team could score in the sixth inning and the score after six completed innings was 11-8 in favor of the Hurtin' Units...

In the top of the seventh inning (open) the Hurtin' Units went down in a ball of flames, 4 batters and it was “ change em up boys”. In the bottom of the inning the Ligaments got off to a great start, getting some runners on base and bringing 2 runs in with nobody out...11-10. The next two batters ( Rodger and Dave) also got on base and then finally Charlie hit a ground ball which forced Dave out at second base, but Rodger now moved up to third base... One out with the tying run at third, the winning run at first and the always dangerous Andy G. the next Ligament batter...

Bill J. threw Andy a couple of unsatisfactory pitches, Andy had a plan and was looking for something, perhaps a pitch to drive to his off field... Andy did see a pitch he liked and drove it just left of second base, the runners were on the move, the ball looked like it might make it through, but Bob M., the Units shortstop, made a great diving grab, relayed to Mooner, at second, for the force play on Charlie and then Mooner threw a bullet to Mike O. standing on home plate for the out of the runner coming from third base... The runner from third was easily called out... An amazing double play, stellar defense and the Hurtin' Units hold on for a 11-10 victory!!

Boxscore:            1    2    3    4    5     6    7        Total

Hurtin' Units       4    1    2    0    4     0    0           11   

Torn Ligaments   0    0   3     0   5     0     2          10   

Game Highlights: There were a couple of highlights that stood out for me in this game. The game ending double play started by Bob M. to Mooner at second for the force and then to home for the out, on the runner from third, is definitely worth mentioning again... Bill J. And Chris L. hit the ball really hard in the early innings, Bill actually hit the ball over the head of the center fielder, but had to stop at first because he had taken a runner earlier in the game... Cal R., Bob M., and Mooner all went 3 for 3 in the game, Bob scored 3 times... Paul G. was flawless in his 1st base defense debut... And our outfield defense was excellent in tracking down and getting the ball back to the infield...

As far as nail biters go, this game was probably as good as it gets. Great game guys!!

JIMBITS:

• We finally got our shirts for last night's game, although the shirts seem a little thinner this season and it was quite nipplie last night (13 degrees, most of us had to wear something else underneath the team shirt to keep warm), it was great to look around and see everyone dressed in the same colour...
• Speaking of shirts, our sponsor's name is on the back and our sponsor this season is the Taste of Freedom Resturant. I've never been to the resturant, but I was talking to our teammate Paul E. and he told me it was his favorite resturant in town...
• There was a play in last night's game that was both bizzare and scary at the same time...The play I'm referring to is the throw by Mooner, from home plate, to myself at second base, the ball narrowly missed base runner Gord T's head and then ended up in my glove. I saw the throw coming, but when Gord ran to the bag, I lost site of the ball and just as it went by his head, I managed to catch it... All I can say is that would have hurt... LOL.
• I mentioned several times, during the game last night, how important I believe the catcher position is. I know it doesn't have the dash and flash of the shortstop or pitching positions , but I think that it is an important position. Again this season, as in 2010, the Hurtin' Units don't have a designated catcher and so it becomes “catcher by committee”. We have had 7 of our 12 players catch at least one inning in our games. I actually like catching and Mike has volunteered to catch the bulk of the time, but I think it's a good thing to have guys catch in a game. I believe that catching an inning or two, keeps our arms looser and because we are talking to the umpire, we can communicate information (i.e. Outs, strikes, etc.) to our infield and outfields to keep guys in the game... There are also times when pitcher struggles and the catcher can help by providing a target...I'm sure the other teams wonder why Mooner would be catching, but Kevin told me last week that he wouldn't mind catching an inning and I took him up on his offer, it probably won't hurt us too much... runners going to second, that's a different story....Heads up Mooner's catching!!...LOL. 

Our next game is Monday May 30, 2011 at 8:15pm at Keogh Park vs. The Banshees...



HURTIN' UNITS BUZZIN' OVER BEER BROS. WIN...

HURTIN' UNITS VS. BEER BROS.

"It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course" - Hank Aaron

   Game # 3 May 16, 2011

   Hurtin' Units win 22-15

  
    Team Record- 3-0-0

Keogh Park- Well it was only 4 days since our last game and we are right back at it, I really like the short turn around, but the down side is we are not back on the field again until next Tuesday May 24. Eight days between games, maybe I'll see if I can sub for a game, I need my baseball fix. Over the 4 days, between our games, we sure did see a ship load of rain, what a wet weekend we just had.

The weather on Monday was a little better, at least it wasn't pouring rain like it did all weekend, but it was still damp and cool with a couple of showers eariler in the day. I looked at the Weather Network just before I headed to the park for our game, we were going to miss the showers, the current temperature was 9 degrees and the overnight low was going to be 7 degrees. OUCH!!

The rain over the last 3 or 4 days probably played a role in this game. As we (the Hurtin' Unit players) were warming up on the grass, I could feel my feet getting wet and cold. I'm sure by the end of the game, the outfielder's feet were soaked and chilled to the bone. Not only were are feet wet from playing on the field, but they were also soaked from the batter's boxes, which were sloppy and half full of water. The cool temperatures had the bats, in the hands of some of the batters, vibrating as they made contact with the ball, the batters with batting gloves were probably spared most of these painful vibes.

At game time we had our full team,12 players, first time this season, a wonderful site to see as a captain.The Beer Bros. were missing some players, included Mark Doyle, Sandy Bell and Mike Christensen. Cam Clark and John Stiff were subbing for the Bros. We were the Home team again for this game...

 As I mentioned in a previous blog, this game had more significance than the two points in the win column, this was the team that we have a wager with on the season series, with the winner of the series receiving as case of ice, cold suds (beer) from the other. Well, I'm not sure how many of our players even knew about the bet going into last night's match, I completely forgot about the bet until after the game. So, the Hurtin' Units take a 1-0 lead in the season series and we play the Beer Bros. again on July 20, 2011.

The game on Monday night was fun, despite the dampness and cool temperatures, there was lots of banter on field between both teams. I've always enjoyed playing against Steve R. and Paul P., two guys like who play hard, but still don't take it too serious. I really disliked Paul's pitching in this game, I would much rather have Sandy's pitching over that junk Paul was throwing...

Despite the cold and damp conditions on this evening, the “ Battle for Beer” contest was a high scoring affair, 37 runs in total, with the Hurtin' Units on top by a score of 22-15.

I probably could have saved us a few runs against us with a better pitching performance! I have been trying to pitch an inning in every game in hopes of being well prepared when my call of duty arrives and I have to pitch an entire game... Last night I did not feel comfortable pitching, maybe it was the cold, possibly the pitching rubber or maybe just lack of focus, whatever it was I did not have a stellar outing, to say the least.

The Beer Bros. are a good hitting team and I'll give them a lot of credit for a good offensive night, but when a pitcher comes in and walks a handful of batters there is nobody to blame, but the pitcher. In the inning, the Bros. scored only 4 runs and some would say that's not too bad, but if it wasn't for some excellent defensive plays it could have been a lot worse. I gave up 4 of the 15 runs scored, I'm not bothered by the 4 runs, as much as I'm bothered by the walks I gave up....I must get back to Coventry, with my bucket of balls, and get my throwing straightened out by next game...

Boxscore:        1    2    3    4    5    6    7     Total

Hurtin' Units    4    6    3    2    7    0    X      22   

Beer Bros.        2    3    4    0    1    2    3      15    

If anyone had asked me, say in the
fifth inning, in this game, how I thought we were doing, I would have thought we were up a couple and/or the game was very close... I was really surprised to see we had such a large lead going in to the seventh inning... I thought our offensive was holding their own most of the night, but I didn't realize we were putting up the runs we were... I just remember us hitting a bunch of weak hit balls, outs on the bases, pop flys, etc... I guess between all of these we were bringing guys around to score... 22 runs is the most we have scored in a game this young season.. We have also scored four 7 run innings in our 3 games played... The game on Monday we scored at least 2 runs in every inning, except the 6th. We have also not had to bat in our last inning yet this season... Next week we are on the road (we're the visiting team)and we play Torn Ligaments lead by the hitting power of Cam Clark, who we had the pleasure of seeing against us in this game...Our next game is on Tuesday May 24 at 8:15pm at Coventry...

And one final note...our shirts have finally arrived, we'll distribute them next game... See ya there.

HURTIN' UNITS BURN THE JOINTS...

Hurtin' Units vs. Dislocated Joints

Game # 2 - May 12, 2011
(makeup game from May 3, 2011) 

Hurtin' Units win 17-11


Team Record 2-0-0


Keogh Park- On Thursday afternoon, I was driving north on Mount Wolfe road heading home to Tottenham, the skies to the north were very dark and the rain was starting to fall. All I kept was thinking was I really don't want tonight's makeup game against the Dislocated Joints to be canceled again. This game was difficult enough to put together and with Bob M. not available, Chris R. deciding not to play this season and Cal R. not available for 9:30pm games, it got a little bit tougher. So I'm thankful that the wet weather was short lived and we were able to field a team with such a short notice of a rescheduling.

The weather at game time was actually quite pleasant considering how threatening it looked earlier in the day. It was very dry, warm and humid at game time (9:30pm).

At game time, we had 10 players at the park ready to play, including our newest player Brad M. Missing from this game was Bob M. and Cal R.

This game started similar to our last, we got down 3 runs in the top of the first inning and we didn't score anything in the bottom of the first. In the top of the second inning, the Joints scored another 5 runs to take an 8-0 lead. In the bottom of the second inning the offense switch was suddenly turned on, the Units scored 7 runs ( 8 actually, but Kevin's homerun didn't count) highlighted by a towering homerun(1) by Mooner into the bocce courts. The score at the end of 2 innings- Dislocated Joints 8, Hurtin' Units 7.

In the third inning, I came into pitch an inning ( I have to get in there and stir it up sometime) and we managed to get 3 outs on a total of 8 pitches. In the top of the inning, our bats were still red hot and we scored another 7 run inning to take the lead 14-8.
Over the next 4 innings both teams only scored 3 runs each, although the Units didn't have to bat in the bottom of the seventh. The Hurtin' Units win 17-11.

Boxscore:          1    2    3    4    5    6    7        Total

Hurtin' Units     0    7    7    2    0    1    X         17    

Dislocated         3    5    0    1    0    1     1         11  

Our defense seemed a little bit tighter in this game. The Units newest player, Brad M. had a great debut; a great player pickup for the Units.

Paul G.,Paul E. and Richard are all hitting the ball solidly. Paul E. had his first play in the field in 25 years, my prediction is that Paul will be a solid all round player by the playoffs...Over all our team offense is looking really good and imagine what we will look like when Bob and Cal in the lineup. Scary thought, I know I wouldn't want to play against us. With Bob and Cal in the lineup, our defense will also become more difficult for our opponents to play against us.

Now that the makeup game is in the books, we can look forward to our “ Battle for Beer “ against the Beer Bros. next Monday at Keogh Park at 8:15pm.

The game against the Beer Bros. is not just about winning the season series for an icy, cold case of brew, it's also about the bragging rights! Mike and I have friends on the Beer Bros. team and if we lost to them, we would have to listen to them drone on about how good their team is, and how we are not worthy of being on the same field as them and blah, blah, blah. I think you get the picture, I'd would rather not lose and I'd prefer to tell them that we are the more superior team and yada, yada, yada, and that we have the right to brag... Units Unite!!

Let the games begin...

“People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” - Roger Hornsby

Hurtin' Units vs. Dodge City Rounders...

Game # 1- May 10, 2011

Hurtin' Units win 16-11

Team Record - 1-0-0

Finally, the big day has arrived (no I'm not talking about the Royal wedding), I'm talking about the start of the Hurtin' Units 2011 season. And with the start of the new season comes a new squad of well tuned, athletic players, although one third of the Hurtin' Units team is a carry over from last season. Mike, Paul G., Chris R. and myself (Jimmer) played together on the 2010 Units team. This years Units team looks (at least on paper) to be as strong as last years , but is there the same team chemistry? In my opinion, based on the guys I've spoken to and the team practise we had, I would say there is already a positive and very optimistic energy flowing around the Hurtin' Units imaginary clubhouse.


We have gotten off to a bit of a rough start this season. The poor weather conditions set our start date back a week and forced us into scramble mode to get the makeup game in. Our shirts are still not ready and we don't know if our lettering is yellow or white. Paulie G. doesn't know what colour of socks and underwear to wear to co-ordinate. I told him to wear white and he can always add some yellow highlights before, during or after the game.


There is one other thing as I write this introduction to our first game blog. I have had a couple e-mail conversations with our teammate Chris Ross, over the last couple of days, he was indicating that he might not be available for a large portion of the Hurtin' Units games and he was actually thinking about taking the season off. On Monday May 9, 2011, I received an e-mail from Chris comfirming that he had indeed decided to step down. Chris is a dedicated soccer coach and he thought it would be unfair to our team to miss so many games, as well as the playoff weekend. Chris has been as solid builder of the T.O.T. league and he will be missed as a player.

With Chris stepping down, for a season, the door has been opened up for a new, up and coming, rookie player, on the waiting list, to join the league. I would like to welcome our newest player to the Hurtin' Units, Mr. Brad Moye...Applause..... Brad will be unavailable for our Tuesday night game against the Dodge City Rounders, but will be in the Units lineup on Thursday night for our makeup game with the Dislocated Joints.

I had a brief conversation on Monday evening with Brad and there was one thing that really stuck out about our conversation, I asked Brad what size of shirt he wore, Brad's reply was "Medium".  I guess the XXL shirt, we ordered for Chris Ross, isn't going to fit now is it, at least not snuggly... In all my years in this league, I have never heard of anyone wearing a medium sized shirt. I'm often surprised when I see a "large" on the draft cards and I'm rarely surprised when I see a XXL needed... I really shouldn't judge people on their shirt size, perhaps Brad is like Barney Gumble from the Simpsons and likes to show a little bit of skin... Sorry Brad, I guess I'm a little jealous, I stand 5'3" and wear an extra large shirt. 

Welcome to the Hurtin' Units!!! 

Last season our opening night was also at Coventry Park and our opponent was the Red Dogs. The Hurtin' Units won the game by a 14 -10 score and got the season started in the right direction. The Hurtin' Units went on to have an amazing season with a record of 19-5-2 and a team batting average of .642 %  
2010 was a great season, but now we are about to embark on a new campaign and focus on the 2011!!


It's Game Time:

Coventry Park- The weather for our first game was about what we could expect for May 10, still a little cool, but still comfortable enough when you were running the around. There were overcast skies that probably saved some of us from staring into the sun at our 7:00pm start time.

At game time we had 10 players suited up ready to do battle. Bob M. and new guy Brad Moye were absent on this night...

Similiar to last years start, the defense was a little shakey at times and a couple of batters did not have their timing yet, but over all a pretty well rounded effort for our first game.

The game was shortened due to time, we only played 6 innings and the Units only had five at bats (we were the home team), I got up to bat four times ( I was in the middle of the order) and looking at the game sheet Bill was the last batter, so we all batted four times...not bad for 5 innings.

The first and last innings (open) were our most problematic. Bill struggled a bit to hit the board and find the strike zone and the Rounders waited him out for a either a walk or a good pitch to hit. The Rounders only managed to score 2 runs in the first inning ( although it could worse). In the bottom of the inning, the Units came out swinging and with Tito P. pitching, I unfortunately I hit a hard hit ball up the middle striking Tito in the shin or ankle. He hobbled around for several minutes and then returned to the pitcher's mound ( I really hate when incidents like this happen, I believe in Karma and next time I pitch.... well, you know). With 2 runners on base, the next batter, Mikey Boy, hammered a rocket over the head of the Rounders RCF and Mikey (1) chugged around for a 3 RBI  home run. The Units never looked back...

The top of the second inning saw the Units shut down the Rounders-1,2,3... In the bottom of the inning the Units batted around and scored 7 runs to take an 11-2 lead.

The middle innings saw the Rounders inch a bit closer, but the Unit lead was really to large... Paul Evans had got his first hit in 25 years( hooray! the drought is over) and went 3 for 4 on the night...Most of the Unit players started looking more comfortable at the plate as the game went on... Our defense was having some first game jitters, but it was nothing we can't straighten out over the season. One other thing that happened was a four out inning, we thought we had the third out, but the runner was called safe because Mike was on the orange bag first base bag and not the white. We also had a few breakdowns in communications, calling for pop-ups and fly balls, again a simple problem that can be corrected and will make a difference in our defensive fielding... We threw a few balls away during this game and we will learn to hang on when we need to.. Having Bob M. back in the lineup will tighten our defense. 

The offense was really good in this game. I think the Sunday batting practise helped most of us get off to a good start. I think Paul Evans had a great first game, considering it's been 25 years since he played a game. The guys on this Hurtin' Units squad are great mentors and Paul will great some good tips and advise and will probably show improvement almost every game...

Over all this was a great start to our season.

One more thing: We were challenged last night!! I don't mean in the game, but after in the dugout. I was standing in our dugout when I was approached by one of the Captains of the new team the Beer Bros., ( I'm not sayin' which captain, but it wasn't Paul) and was asked if I would like to make a wager on the season series that our teams will be playing... Well, let me tell you , I'm not afraid of a challenge, and after seeing our team play last night, I had to accept... If the Hurtin' Units win both the season series games, the Beer Bros owe us a case of beer and if the Beer Bros. win the season series we owe them a million dollars (just kidding), we will buy them a case of the cheapest beer on the market...If we both win a game, nobody gets anything... We play the Beer Bros. next Monday evening May 16 at 8:15... Let the trash talk begin... LOL.

COUNTDOWN TO BASEBALL...

 

Friday April 29, 2011.

Well we're only 5 days away from the start of the T.O.T  2011 season and I'm hoping that the weather takes a sudden turn for the better. This week has been brutal for rain, rain and more rain. The wind gusts on Thursday afternoon had election signs changing locations all over the neighorhood, I think I'm voting NDP now, at least that's what the sign on my front lawn says!

With all the rain recently, the start of the season could actually be pushed back a week. This is a township call, they don't want us on the fields if there is any pooling on the infield or if the outfield is spongy.

On Wednesday evening ( this week) the league captains had our monthly Captain's meeting. We discussed the usual stuff ( budget, upcoming events, player registration, tournaments, etc.) and in addition to these discussions we were also allocated our new equipment for the upcoming season (bats, balls, grips, etc.). Last season each team received 2 new bats, but this season the league was only providing new bats to the teams that really needed them. There were several new bats and an assortment of used bats, from previous seasons gone by, but Mike and I chose not to take any of the new bats, and even though I picked through the used bats I could find anything that was any better than what we already have. The set of bats we have are well maintained and should still have "plenty O hits" left in them. We even have one of the coveted yellow bats, that a lot of players really would love to get their hands on (no pun intended). We have one or two bats that could use regripping, but I think we'll probably regrip them after the practise on Sunday. 

Our shirts were not ready as of Wednesday's Captain's meeting and we might not have them for the start of the season, we did however receive our hats, which Mike and I didn't know that everyone was getting, I thought that if you wanted a hat it was a special order, much to my surprise we are all getting a baseball hat and those players that did order an extra they'll get what they ordered. Bonus on the hats!!

Recently, Mike and I sat down and discussed our batting order... We think we have it all worked out, but only time will tell. Last season we had a set order and stuck with it the whole season. One thing we like to do is- when the order is determined we keep the same order, but have the "player on deck" at the end of the previous game, lead off the next game. We find this is a fair way to get guys their at bats, theoretically everyone should end up with the same number of at bats by the end of the season, assuming everyone plays the same number of games. In the playoffs, we will probably change the order to give us the best chance of winning...


Sunday May 1, 2011 
Practise Day:

The weather seems to still be an issue this spring. There was a threat of rain around our scheduled practise time and there actually was a brief shower around 12:00 that had me thinking the turn-out might not be very good. Much to my surprise the turn-out was great. Nine Hurtin' Unit players and four friends turned up to battle a strong wind, damp field conditions, unseasonalbly colder temperatures and intermittent light rain showers. Missing from the 2011 Hurtin' Units were Cal R., Chris R. and Paul E...

Most of us started by throwing the ball around to loosen up the old arms. I had played on Saturday, in an exhibition friendly game, with the Beer Brothers and my first 5 plus throws on Sunday were a little uncomfortable to say the least. I'm sure most of the guys were feeling a little stiff and sore on Monday. After our warm up tosses, we started some batting practise. Bill J. started pitching to the guys. Each of us hit a bucket of balls ( 25 to 30 balls per bucket). In my opinion it was too many swings in a row, fatigue and tiredness start to show by the bottom of the bucket. We each took a turn at batting while the others shagged the hits. Some of us (Chris Larkin) were very active, chasing down ground balls and making game situation plays, great to see, fun to watch...

Bob Mc and myself took turns pitching after Bill J. had to leave for a family function. The wind created a challenge for both batter and pitcher moving the ball all around the plate. After everyone had been through once, we started a second round of batting, with less at bats. We had only gotten to the forth batter when the rain started to fall, everyone collectively started walking off the field toward the dugout, we packed up our gear and we called it a day. After 2 hours of shagging, running and batting most of us looked a little tired, add in a cool wind, damp air, wet feet and the C.R.I.C. dance the night before, I think it was enough for one day, maybe if the weather was nicer we may have continued a bit longer, but not today...

We packed up our gear, the bats, balls, etc. and walked over to the pavillion where Mike had a supply of brown bottles filled with liquid refreshment. We sat back and relaxed talking some baseball.

I have to admit, I was impressed with the hitting of the 9 Hurtin' Unit players. Everyone was hitting the ball hard and placed in the proper order this could be a squad that has very few weak spots in the batting lineup.

As we sat under the shelter of the pavillion, our teammate Kevin Moon provided us with an interesting little statistic regarding his league play over the last 4 seasons. Kevin has been to the playoff finals each of the last 4 seasons and has won the championship every second year. He lost, last season, playing with the Dodge City Rounders, which means he is due for a championship again this season. After what I saw on Sunday, at the practise, I think we have the team to make a run at it( I actually thought the same last season), but only time will tell... I'm looking forward to getting on the field Tuesday night...


Monday May 2, 2011  

The countdown to baseball will have to continue for another week! I was extremely disappointed when I received the e-mail informing us that the Tuesday May 3, 2011 night games had been cancelled. I had been very optimistic, early in the day, that the games were going to be a go for Tuesday. The diamonds, at Coventry Park, were definitely playable on Sunday and on Monday I stopped by the park for a little batting practise and the fields were drying up nicely.

I have to tell you guys, I really don't like cancelling games for a number of reasons: 1. I don't like late games, I wake up at 3:20am and the late games make for a cranky and crappy day! 2. A lot of other players don't like late games either, which means they can't or don't want to play the late games, subs don't like late games , the bottom line is...make up games are usually late games and nobody ( except maybe vampires) likes playing the late games. I believe the Hurtin' Units have 2 scheduled late games this season. 3. Make-up games are difficult to co-ordinate with the other team, umpires and of course the players. Last season we cancelled a game scheduled for July 1st and it didn't get played until August 31st.

We have already been offered a make-up date for the May 3, 2011 cancelled game, the rescheduled game is for May 11 at 9:30pm, next Thursday evening, but I think it is best to decline . We have players, on the Units, that we haven't even met yet  and I really think we need an opportunity( as a team) to discuss whether or not our players can even make this game. The only way we could discuss this would be at our game next Tuesday ( which is really short notice) or via a conference call, which I can't see happening. My preference would be to play later in the season ( June or July), when the temperature is warmer and the weather is a little more stable or... tack the games missed on May 3 onto the schedule at the end of the season at our regular playing times... Either way, I don't think we are ready to play a make-up game just as the season has begun. I will request that this game be made up at a later date or added to the back end of the schedule...

Speaking of schedules, there are a couple of things in the 2011 that are worth mentioning... The Hurtin' Units have two 9:30 pm games scheduled and we also have a double header one evening in June... I have some printed copies of the schedule, I will bring them next week if anyone wants one...

I look forward to our first game, I think we have a great group of guys and I think this is going to be a fun season... I'll see ya next week...

Cheers, Jimmer.